LIBS PLEDGE LARA SUPER JAIL

LIBS UNVEIL MASSIVE 1300-BED PRISON

COALITION Leader Matthew Guy has unveiled a plan to massively expand the jail precinct at Lara.

The Opposition has vowed to build a new 1300-bed facility at the Bacchus Marsh Rd complex, in a development that would dwarf Labor’s $689.5 million proposal.

Visiting the site yesterday, Mr Guy said the new facility would be introduced alongside mandatory minimum jail sentences for repeat violent offenders.

It would host 700 maximum security beds, 300 in medium security and a 300-place remand centre.

An on-site magistrate would also be stationed at the precinct.

“An elected Liberal-Nation- als government will build a bigger jail facility at Lara to accommodate those violent criminals that are not deterred by tougher jail sentences,” Mr Guy said.

The Coalition said it would reallocate funds that Labor has

committed to a 700-bed maximum security prison on the site.

Mr Guy said his party would begin construction on its project in 2019-20, using a public-private partnership.

It would be completed in late 2022, before a six-month testing and commissioning period.

Operations would start in July 2023.

“This project will create hundreds of jobs both in construction and operation,” Mr Guy said.

“We also propose that the new Lara Prison will be a hub for alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs and have a larger medical centre to service the Lara Prison Precinct, to take pressure from the current medical unit at the Port Phillip Prison.”

The corrections system has been a big focus of both major parties.

The Labor Government’s 2018-19 State Budget included $689.5 million for the Lara expansion, $362 million for a new 102-bed unit at Fulham prison in Sale, 300 extra beds at Ravenhall prison, and 71 more at the Metropolitan Remand Centre.

News Corp revealed in September that Labor had also been scouting locations on Melbourne’s fringes to build a new prison, capable of holding more than 1000 beds.